Former ULA President and CEO Tory Bruno Joins Blue Origin (spaceflightnow.com)

Getting that sweet sweet never-ending DOD moneygun to go brrrrrrrr.

There’s a great “Smarter Every Day” video on how rockets are made and the guest host was Tory Bruno.

https://youtu.be/o0fG_lnVhHw

Two things I recall from this video from years ago

1. Tory really seemed to be a true expert. Not a typical “CEO”.

2. Seems like a genuinely nice guy, see this moment when Tory recognized Dustin’s dad

https://youtu.be/Bh7Xf3Ox7K8?t=476

ULA is stuck with SLS, which had its high-level design micromanaged by Congress in a way that guaranteed it will fail (at everything except collecting government funding). It makes sense that Bruno is jumping ship shortly before the reckoning comes for SLS, to a company where success is possible.

Tory Bruno seems cool, and my impression is that he's been held back by a conservative, risk-averse culture in the ULA board that really only worked until SpaceX and other competitors proved themselves.